Vicky Bentley’s Blog

Lisa Williams Coggin

On a morning damp with dew
In a garden silent and still,
The statue said to the bird,
“Oh, if only I were real.

I would smell the blossoms and hear the wind
And feel the warmth of noon.
I would taste the rain and sing with bees
And rest under the moon.

I would see the sun arrive each day
To bathe the garden in light.
I would touch the velvet of a rose
And envy the birds their flight.

I would cool in the shade of the massive tree
Whose arms I’m sitting under,
And know the God who made all this
And stop and think and wonder…

Why He would put me among such life
Yet make me so cold and still?
What don’t I have? What’s not here?
Why am I not real?”

The little bird couldn’t talk.
In pity he hung his head,
Then soared above the statue and thought
Just what he would have said…

“To accept Pure Love then give it out,
Unmeasured, no effort, no will,
Unrequested, undeserved, just given
Is all that makes you real.”

– Lisa Williams Coggin

Lisa Williams Coggin is a missionary to Northern Uganda. She and her husband, Keith, are the founders of Sanctuary of Grace Christian School. Sanctuary of Grace Christian School is supported by Far Reaching Ministries.